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Subject:Re: Needed: Basic Postscript Info (Long-ish) From:"Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 19 Nov 1997 10:08:53 -0800
Lonnye Yancey wrote:
>...we're currently writing
>training guides that will need to be sent to an outside printer...
>need a little background on the process...
>
>In the list archives, everybody talks about .ps and .eps postscript
>files, but the only file extension I get with my driver is .prn. What's
>the difference? ...
If you are using a postscript printer driver, you're producing a .ps
file, no matter what extension the software assigns to the file. In
general, .ps is a postscript printer file and .eps -- the e stands
for encapsulated -- is a graphics file thats capable of being embedded
in another file.
Whether this is the format your print vendor prefers is in question,
however, so you'd be wise to check first. Also, your vendor may have
a preference in printer drivers.
Additionally, and depending on the target size of the final manual,
you'll need to know if the vendor prefers the text centered on the
larger page or aligned in the upper left corner (which is often
cheeper because they only need to cut the page twice), whether they
want crop marks, registration marks, and so on.
Whenever I begin dealing with a new print vendor, I always send a
10 page or so sample file at least a month before deadline and the
vendor sends a proof back for my review. That way, we're sure to
have any kinks ironed out before the deadline hits.
>...I want to be able
>to actually *look* at my postscript file...
I've never been able to get GhostScript up and running myself.
If you have a postscript printer set up on the network, you may be
able to use the DOS copy command [copy filename printerpath] to
print the file, or you may be able to drag and drop. Ask your
network administrator for help.
Barring any simple solution, you can send the file to your print
vendor with a table of filename/place in book/number of pages/
page numbers and wait for the proofs to come back. Yup. I know
it's not the best way, but sometimes it's the only way.
>Should I look into buying Adobe Acrobat? Would .pdf files make things
>simpler, and if so, does Acrobat include everything I need to create,
>view, and send out postscript files?
Nope. Acrobat is to distribute the stuff to your users electronically
and let them worry about printing it out.
>Sorry if I'm asking silly or overly simplistic questions, but baby tech
>writers have to learn this stuff somewhere. Right? : )
